The U.S. Department of Transportation’s inspector general announced Tuesday that he has ordered an audit of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority’s management of the more than $6 billion Dulles Rail Project. The audit, requested by Reps. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and Tom Latham (R-Iowa), will also review the agency’s overall management of the District’s two major airports and miles of freeway.
“There’s a lot of money involved,” Wolf said. “I want to make sure it’s done appropriately — we don’t want another Big Dig,” he said, referring to Boston’s 3.5-mile tunnel that became infamous for mismanagement and billions of dollars in cost overruns.
Wolf also cited a recent management debacle in which a deciding vote to nominate the airports authority’s CEO was cast by a board member under house arrest in the Ivory Coast who hadn’t attended a board meeting in two years.
The authority’s board has come under fire since April from leaders in Fairfax and Loudoun counties angered by its decision to build an underground Metro station at Washington Dulles International Airport that would cost taxpayers $330 million more than an aboveground station.
Board members defended the decision, saying it’s best for the long term and was agreed to by local officials in 2005.
Frustration over the placement of the station provoked a litany of further complaints against the airports authority, resulting in an intervention by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.
“It’s been a little bit like marriage counseling,” said Fairfax County Board Chairwoman Sharon Bulova, referring to ongoing meetings between LaHood, local officials and members of the airports authority board.
The audit is set to begin June 27, but preliminary meetings have already been held, according to people familiar with the process.
“The [airports] authority will cooperate fully,” said spokeswoman Courtney Mickalonis.
Loudoun County Board Chairman Scott York was out of town and unable to comment. In Fairfax, Mark Canale recently took over the county’s management of Dulles Rail but said he’s too new to discuss the airports authority’s history with local partners.
“At this point, everyone is still talking, everyone is still at the table, which is good,” Canale said.
